THE WEEK

Michigan's chief rival in the Big Ten, Ohio State, had more trouble than it expected from Wisconsin before winning 28-20. The Buckeyes drove for touchdowns on their first four possessions but were shut out in the second half when Wisconsin scored twice and was threatening again as time ran out. Ohio State added a passing offense to its always potent ground game, with Quarterback Greg Hare completing nine of 12 for 120 yards.

Purdue also remained in the fight, with its fourth straight league victory after three nonconference defeats. The Boilermakers edged winless Illinois 20-14. Michigan State lost five fumbles and was tied 6-6 by Iowa when the Hawkeyes' Harry Kokolus kicked his second field goal in the fourth quarter. Northwestern, which had won only once, rose from the cellar to upset Indiana 23-14.

Any tourist can go racing at the Moscow Hippodrome. It can be a pleasant afternoon with small crowds, 17 races on a program and all the cognac and caviar one could want. What takes more doing is getting to the grass roots of Russia's thoroughbred industry—visiting the country's studs. Sports Illustrated's horse racing editor is the only American journalist who has been invited to tour the breeding farms in the foothills of the Caucasus from which the Soviets hope a runner of international stature may someday emerge. The following is a diary of the trip.

His center was "scared to death," his placement holder was shaking so that he bobbled the ball and the kicker himself was still fretting over his miss of a shorter field-goal attempt 92 seconds earlier. But this time, from 11 yards farther out and with six seconds remaining, Missouri's Greg Hill kicked the 33-yard three-pointer that upset Colorado 20-17. The Tigers' first Big Eight win of the season and fourth in seven games followed last week's stunning 30-26 upset of Notre Dame, when Hill kicked three field goals. Colorado Coach Eddie Crowder had hoped to save ailing Charlie Davis for this week's game against Nebraska, but when the Buffs trailed 10-0 at the half, Davis was ushered in. He helped bring Colorado back but never into the lead. Missouri got a day's work from its best runner, Tommy Ream-on. "If they give me the ball, we can beat Colorado," Reamon had said before the game. Missouri did, 15 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, and Reamon was right.

Oklahoma found the offensive spark that had been missing the last two weeks in a lackluster win over Texas and an upset loss to Colorado. The Whooshbone drubbed Kansas State 52-0 as Greg Pruitt had his best day of the year. Unlimited Talent scored three times and his 122 yards on 19 carries put him second to Steve Owens on the school's alltime rushing list. As in its four previous wins, the Sooner defense did not allow a touchdown.

Iowa State surprised Kansas with a 49-yard scoring pass on its first play and went on to a 34-8 victory. Sophomore Mike Strachan rushed for 164 yards and Quarterback George Amundson had 288 yards total offense. "Amundson deserves the Heisman," said Coach Johnny Majors, who nearly won it himself at Tennessee in 1956. Nebraska took possession of the Big Eight lead with its sixth straight win and fourth consecutive shutout, 34-0 over Oklahoma State. The offense had its most productive day of the season with 566 yards, and Johnny Rodgers scored two more touchdowns.

Rice Coach Al Conover, all 250 pounds of him, staged a mock burial of his team's mistakes against SMU in order to be better prepared for Texas. Alas, his quarterbacks threw four interceptions, his runners lost two fumbles, and the Longhorns rolled 45-9. Texas Fullback Roosevelt Leaks played only the first half but equaled the 154 yards he gained the week before. He did it in only 15 carries and scored from the 39 and 26 as Texas built a 31-9 lead.

The Longhorns' victory gave them sole possession of first place in the Southwest Conference when Texas Tech upset SMU 17-3. Mustang runners Alvin Maxson and Wayne Morris had been combining for an average of 209 yards per game but they were held to 83 by an inspired Red Raider defense that also trapped Quarterback Keith Bobo seven times. Meanwhile, Tech Quarterback Joe Barnes ran for 129 yards and passed for 98 more and one touchdown. The Raiders, who have lost only to Texas, are now 6-1.

Arkansas Quarterback Joe Ferguson took advantage of winless North Texas State by completing nine of his first 10 passes in a 42-16 romp. Ferguson, something of a disappointment this season, had 12 completions in 15 attempts for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Jon Richardson also scored twice from inside the two. Dickey Morton, with 121 yards in 21 carries, surpassed the 100-yard mark for the fifth time this year.

Texas A&M lost its sixth straight following the season-opening defeat of Wichita State, Mike Conradt kicking three field goals to lift Baylor to a 15-13 win.

WEST

1. USC (8-0)2. UCLA (7-1)3. AIR FORCE (6-1)

John McKay, who can find more unhappiness in a win than probably any other coach in America, was fuming again Saturday after Southern California blanked Oregon 18-0. "I'd rather play in the mud than on one of those carpets when it's wet," said McKay of the conditions in Eugene. "What they ought to do with those carpets is take them out and burn them." Oregon's Dick Enright "didn't think the field was that big a deal," but everyone agreed Anthony Davis was. After USC had gone scoreless in the first half, thanks to six fumbles, Davis finally put the Trojans on the board. On two consecutive first-down plays the second-string tailback swept left end for touchdown runs of 48 yards. "The only difference about Davis' runs from our other plays," declared McKay, "was that he didn't fall down."

UCLA remained a serious Pacific Eight contender by downing Washington State 35-20. The Cougars dominated the statistics, but four fumbles and the all-round play of UCLA Quarterback Mark Harmon did them in. "He looked just like Jack Mildren running that Wishbone," said Washington State Coach Jim Sweeney. "He's not going to face much more pressure than we gave him today." Harmon netted 55 yards in seven carries and completed five of eight passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns. Stanford scored twice within three minutes of the third quarter to come from behind and defeat Oregon State 17-11. The defenses controlled the game, forcing 20 punts.

Washington, down to its fourth-string quarterback after injuries sidelined the top three, stayed on the ground to defeat California 35-21. If you are keeping track, the name to remember now is Mark Backman. Mark Backman?

The ability of Arizona State to move and be moved is unequaled anywhere. The Sun Devils, who play defense only by accident, were outscored by Air Force 39-31. The Falcons played ball control and did a good job of containing Woody Green. "It was one of the worst exhibitions of football I've ever seen," said ASU Coach Frank Kush. "They just literally kicked the hell out of us, mentally and physically." A key performer in the Sun Devils' first home defeat in 3½ years was Air Force Receiver Frank Murphy, who caught seven passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

Utah has won more giveaways than a quiz-show contestant. In defeating New Mexico 59-14 the Utes recovered six fumbles (giving them 20 in the last three games) and intercepted two passes. "I'd like to think that a lot of that fumbling is our fault." said Utah Coach Bill Meek with a nod to his defense. Gene Belczyk and back-up Ike Spencer each rushed for over 100 yards and scored two touchdowns apiece. Tony Adams, who did not complete a pass against Wyoming until three minutes into the second quarter, finally got going as Utah State won its third straight over a Western Athletic Conference team, 35-23. In a fight-marred WAC game, Brigham Young defeated winless Colorado State 44-8. PCAA leader San Diego State won its sixth game in seven starts, 21-14 over Fresno Stale.

SOUTH

1. LSU (6-0)2. ALABAMA (7-0)3. AUBURN (6-1)

Florida State's superb Gary Huff gave Mitchell's "Midgets a thorough workout all afternoon, but in the end Auburn and its pass defense prevailed 27-14. Huff gave a typical performance, completing 25 of 41 passes for 241 yards and one touchdown but he was also intercepted four times. Three of the pickoffs were by Assistant Coach Sam Mitchell's defensive backs, each of whom measures under six feet. Huff's arm was not enough to bring the Seminoles back from a 27-0 deficit. Terry Henley had posted the first three touchdowns himself before the game was 20 minutes old. The Southeastern Conference's leading rusher gained 105 yards in 27 carries.

Georgia and Kentucky played one of the dullest games of the year in Lexington, the Bulldogs winning 13-7. The difference was two second-half field goals by Kim Bras-well. Georgia Tech iced its 21-7 victory over Tulane when Eddie McAshan followed consecutive 15-yard penalties with a 67-yard scoring pass to Mike Oven. "You can never tell what we're going to do on offense," explained Fullback Greg Home.

Alabama awoke from first-half lethargy to win its 18th consecutive regular-season game, 48-11 over Southern Mississippi. The Crimson Tide led only 7-3 at halftime but came to life as Steve Bisceglia scored twice. Other nonconference victories went to Tennessee, 34-2 over previously unbeaten Hawaii, and to Mississippi State, which handed Houston its second straight loss, 27-13. Mississippi ended a three-game losing streak with its first Southeastern Conference triumph, 31-7 over Vanderbilt.

Duke continued to prove it has recovered from opening losses to Alabama, Washington and Stanford. The Blue Devils won their third straight, 17-16 over Navy, by stopping the same two-point conversion pass that beat them in the closing moments last year. "You bet we knew it was coming," said Defensive Coach Jerry McGee, twin brother of Head Coach Mike. "We worked on it about 50 times during the week."

South Carolina, despite leading at the half, sank deeper into mediocrity when high-powered North Carolina State scored four second-half touchdowns for a 42-24 victory. Maryland, turning three interceptions into touchdowns, came from 20 points down to edge Virginia 24-23, and Wake Forest was shut out for the second straight week, 31-0, by Clemson.

EAST

1. PENN STATE (6-1)2. DELAWARE (7-0)3. DARTMOUTH (4-0-1)

There was a country-music band to warm up early arrivals at Mountaineer Field and a 100-yard return of the opening kickoff to make home-team fans tingle with joy. The merriment was brought to an early end, however, as Penn State beat West Virginia for the 14th straight time, 28-19. The Lion defense, almost as good as (hat of the 1969 outfit, turned the contest around by intercepting Bernie Galiffa's first two passes and the offense cashed in for a 10-6 first-quarter lead. Although Galiffa got 341 yards on 21 completions in 37 attempts, his runners netted minus one yard. John Hufnagel directed the balanced Penn State attack and his 205 yards made him the school's alltime total offense leader. John Cappelletti rushed for 154 yards.

A steady rain hampered both offenses as Syracuse defeated Pittsburgh 10-6. An interception return to the two set up the Orangemen's touchdown and the Panthers' score came on a blocked punt with 36 seconds left. The Holy Cross defense scored touchdowns on two of Villanova's five turnovers and the Crusaders won easily 26-9. Delaware avenged its only defeat of the last two years by thrashing Temple 28-9. Roger Mason led the defending small-college champions with 182 yards rushing and three touchdowns despite losing yardage for the first time in his career when he slipped on the wet turf.

Miami, which needed a fifth down to beat Tulane, took a 14-0 lead against Army on an interception return and the recovery of a blocked punt before it made a first down. The Hurricanes went on to win their third straight after eight losses in a row, 28-7.

The Ivy League race continued to show little semblance of order as previously unbeaten Yale, playing on the road for the first time, lost to Cornell 24-13. Five fumbles on the damp artificial turf of Schoellkopf Field did the Elis in. The conference leader might have emerged from the Dartmouth-Harvard game but a 21-21 deadlock maintained the logjam at the top. Fumbles hurt the Big Green, too. Leading 21-14, Dartmouth Quarterback Steve Stetson lost the ball on his own two-yard line and the Crimson quickly converted the gift into the tying score. In other games Gary Shue came oft" the bench to lead Penn past Princeton 15-10 and Columbia lost outside the league to Rutgers 6-3, two field goals by John Pesce doing the trick.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

THE LINEMAN: Senior Middle Guard Don Rives of Texas Tech personally shut down SMU's strong running game with 13 unassisted tackles, five of them behind the line of scrimmage for 48 yards in rushing losses.

THE BACK: Louisville's Howard Stevens became the NCAA's alltime rusher and touchdown producer. His three scores and 258 yards gained against Cincinnati gave the tailback four-year totals of 66 TDs and 4,854 yards.